U.S. patent application number 14/371749 was filed with the patent office on 2015-01-01 for plug for closing neck of container and packaging assembly including plug.
The applicant listed for this patent is Tetra Laval Holdings & Finances S.A.. Invention is credited to Stephane Graux, Richard Lamoureux.
Application Number | 20150001173 14/371749 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 47605485 |
Filed Date | 2015-01-01 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150001173 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Graux; Stephane ; et
al. |
January 1, 2015 |
PLUG FOR CLOSING NECK OF CONTAINER AND PACKAGING ASSEMBLY INCLUDING
PLUG
Abstract
A plug for closing a neck of a carboy is disclosed. The plug
comprises a cap for obturating the neck and a skirt for attachment
to the neck. The skirt includes a first skirt portion, provided
with a bulging line for interfering by jamming with the neck, and a
second skirt portion, adapted for substantially encircling snugly
an outer face of the neck. In order to avoid the presence of liquid
between an outside of the neck and an inside of the skirt after
placement of the plug, an inner face of the second skirt portion is
provided with draining means adapted for delimiting fluid flow
passages between the second skirt portion and the neck, which
connect with each other opposite axial ends of the second skirt
portion.
Inventors: |
Graux; Stephane; (Liergues,
FR) ; Lamoureux; Richard; (Rawdon, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Tetra Laval Holdings & Finances S.A. |
Pully |
|
CH |
|
|
Family ID: |
47605485 |
Appl. No.: |
14/371749 |
Filed: |
January 11, 2013 |
PCT Filed: |
January 11, 2013 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2013/050500 |
371 Date: |
July 11, 2014 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
215/320 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D 51/1661 20130101;
B65D 1/02 20130101; B65D 85/72 20130101; B65D 41/485 20130101; B65D
41/34 20130101; B65D 41/28 20130101; B67D 3/0035 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
215/320 |
International
Class: |
B65D 41/28 20060101
B65D041/28 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jan 13, 2012 |
FR |
1250351 |
Claims
1. A plug for closing a neck of a container, comprising: a cap for
obturating the neck, which, when the plug is in a closing
configuration on the neck, is laid out across an inner aperture of
the neck, and a skirt for attachment to the neck, the skirt being
globally tubular and centered on an axis, extending axially from
the cap and being laid out around the neck when the plug is in the
closing configuration on the neck, wherein the skirt includes along
the axis thereof: a first skirt portion which connects a remainder
of the skirt to the cap and for which the an inner face is provided
with a peripheral bulging line adapted to interfere by jamming with
a protruding heel of an outer face of the neck so as to retain the
skirt around the neck, and a second skirt portion having an inner
face of which is adapted to substantially encircle snugly an
associated portion of the outer face of the neck, wherein the inner
face of the second skirt portion is provided with draining means
adapted to delimit flow passages for flowing fluid between the
second skirt portion and the neck, the flow passages connecting
with each other opposite axial ends of the second skirt
portion.
2. The plug according to claim 1, wherein at least one portion of
the draining means forms, on the inner face of the second skirt
portion, raised reliefs for manual grasping, in particular for
facilitating the freeing of the skirt when the plug is to be
removed from the neck.
3. The plug according to claim 1, wherein the second skirt portion
forms a terminal portion of the skirt, opposite to the first skirt
portion, so that, at an axial end of the second skirt portion,
turned axially opposite to the first skirt portion, the flow
passages open freely on an outside of the plug.
4. The plug according to claim 1, wherein at an axial end of the
second skirt portion, turned axially towards the first skirt
portion, the flow passages open into a free space to be drained,
which, when the plug is in the closing configuration on the neck,
is delimited radially between a third portion of the skirt,
connecting the first and second skirt portions with each other and
a groove of the outer face of the neck.
5. The plug according to claim 1, wherein the draining means
comprise ribs which protrude from the inner face of the second
skirt portion and which are distributed along a periphery of the
inner face of the second skirt portion so that at least some of the
flow passages are delimited by two of these ribs, which are in
succession along the periphery of the inner face of the second
skirt portion.
6. The plug according to claim 5, wherein the ribs, between which
at least some of the flow passages are delimited, are distributed
regularly along the periphery of the inner face of the second skirt
portion.
7. The plug according to claim 5, wherein the ribs are
substantially rectilinear and substantially parallel to the
axis.
8. The plug according to claim 5, wherein each of at least some of
the ribs is axially integral with an interiorly bulging portion of
a third portion of the skirt, connecting the first skirt portion
and the second skirt portion to each other along the axis.
9. The plug according to claim 1, wherein the skirt is provided
with a peripheral weakening line, which is adapted to be broken by
propagation of a tearing of the skirt along the weakening line when
the plug is to be removed from the neck, and a portion of which
connects with each other the opposite axial ends of the second
skirt portion while extending in a peripheral portion of the second
skirt portion, which is without any draining means.
10. A packaging assembly, including a container and a plug for
closing a neck of the container, wherein the plug is in accordance
with claim 1, and the container is a carboy in polyethylene
terephthalate, which is used in an upside down position in which
the neck is turned towards the ground.
Description
[0001] The present invention relates to a plug for closing the neck
of a container, as well as to a packaging assembly comprising such
a plug.
[0002] The invention addresses in particular the case of containers
consisting of a carboy of liquid, capable of containing at least
about ten liters of liquid, notably water, typically water carboys
of three, four or five gallons, which are used in the upside down
position in dispensing fountains. The neck of these carboys is
closed by a plug generally described as a
<<snapped-on>> plug, i.e. a plug for which the tubular
skirt is able to be interiorly clipped or more generally coaxially
blocked around the neck, unlike screwed plugs for example. An
example of such a plug is provided by WO-A-2004108584 on which the
preamble of appended claim 1 is based. Most carboys of this type
are reusable many times, by getting rid of their plug and then
cleaned before each filling.
[0003] For various reasons, notably economic and ecological
reasons, the carboys historically used, made in polycarbonate, are
today increasingly replaced frequently with carboys in less rigid
plastics, notably in polyethylene terephthalate. The result of this
is that during the operation for plugging such a carboy after the
latter has been filled, the setting into place of the plug by force
on the neck causes a non-negligible elastic deformation of the
whole carboy, which is thus crushed along the axis of its neck: the
liquid level in the carboy is then raised relatively to the carboy
so that it is frequent that a little liquid flows out of the
carboy, by passing over the tree and of the neck, and then by
flowing exteriorly around this neck, and this, at the moment when
the plug is fixed around this free end. Under these conditions,
liquid is found trapped in a substantially leakproof way between
the outside of the neck and the skirt of the plug, this skirt being
actually designed for snugly encircling the neck. Subsequently, the
presence of this thereby trapped liquid is often perceived,
moreover wrongly by the user as a lack of seal of the obturation of
the neck. The presence of the capped liquid is moreover
particularly visible when the carboy is, after filling and
obturation, laid horizontally for purposes of storage and/or
transport. Moreover, in the long run, this stagnant liquid between
the outside of the neck and the inside of the skirt of the plug may
be a source of hygiene issues, such as bacterial contamination.
[0004] The object of the present invention is to improve the plugs
of the type mentioned above, in order to avoid the presence of
liquid between the outside of the neck and the inside of the skirt
after placement of the plug on the neck.
[0005] For this purpose, the object of the invention is a plug for
closing the neck of a container, as defined in claim 1.
[0006] One of the ideas at the basis of the invention is not
seeking to prevent liquid from the inside of the neck from being
able to reach, for the reasons explained above, the outside of this
neck during the setting into place of the plug, but is seeking to
allow liquid, thus found between the outside of the neck and the
skirt of the plug, to be discharged by drainage outside the plug.
To do this, the invention makes provision for an arrangement of the
inner face of the skirt portion which, in the closing configuration
of the plug, is fitted around the neck and encircles an associated
portion of the outer face of the latter: this inner face of the
aforementioned skirt portion is designed in order to make passages
so that the liquid flows between this aforementioned skirt portion
and the neck. These flow passages are provided in order to connect
the opposite axial ends of the aforementioned skirt portion, so
that they connect a first axial side of this skirt portion, which
is turned towards the cap of the plug and where liquid, after
having overflowed from the carboy during the setting into place of
the plug, may be found trapped between the inside of the remainder
of the skirt and the outside of the neck, and the opposite axial
side of this skirt portion, opening or, at the very least, in free
communication with the outside of the plug. In this way, the
aforementioned trapped liquid may naturally flow in the flow
passages provided by the invention and thereby pass from the first
axial side to the second axial side of the aforementioned skirt
portion and may therefore reach the outside of the plug. In
practice, it is understood that, depending on the specific position
occupied by the carboy in space upon setting into place the plug,
as well as on the amount of liquid to be drained, all the flow
passages or else only some of them are actually followed by the
liquid in order to reach the outside of the plug, it being noted
that it is necessary that the liquid to be discharged may be
replaced with inflowing air in order to avoid the retention of
liquid by a suction cup effect. Moreover It is not excluded that,
upon setting the plug into place on the neck, all the flow of
passages are saturated with liquid so that, by a suction cup
effect, this liquid is retained upstream from the passages, without
being able to flow as long as the neck extends vertically: in this
case, the drainage of the liquid will only occur when the carboy
will be tilted relatively to the vertical, notably when it will be
laid for purposes of storage and/or transport, the one or those of
the flow passages, in which the liquid will then actually flow,
being those turned downwards. Moreover, in all the cases, after
draining the liquid, the residual traces of humidity inside the
skirt also disappear rapidly under the action of the ambient air
circulating in the flow passages.
[0007] As this will be described in more detail subsequently, a
preferential embodiment of the invention is based on the presence
of protruding ribs on the inner face of the aforementioned skirt
portion, these ribs delimiting between them, along the periphery of
the skirt, the flow passages mentioned above. This being the case,
the invention encompasses other embodiments.
[0008] Advantageous additional features of the plug according to
the invention are specified in dependent claims 2 to 9.
[0009] The object of the invention is also a packaging assembly, as
defined in claim 10.
[0010] Advantageously, the aforementioned carboy is in polyethylene
terephthalate.
[0011] The invention will be better understood upon reading the
description which follows, only given as an example and made with
reference to the drawings wherein:
[0012] FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a plug according
to the invention and of a neck of a container which may be closed
with the plug;
[0013] FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the plug of FIG.
1, in the closing configuration of the neck;
[0014] FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view along the line III-III of
FIG. 2;
[0015] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the plug of FIG. 1; and
[0016] FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the plug of FIG.
1, it being noted that the sectional plane of this FIG. 5 is
different from the one of FIG. 2.
[0017] in FIGS. 1 to 5, a plug 1 is illustrated, capable of closing
the neck 3 of a container 2.
[0018] Generally, the neck is either made with the remainder of the
container 2 in the same material, notably when the latter is a
glass or plastic container, or adapted so as to be permanently
attached onto a wall of the container 2, at an aperture crossing
this wall. As discussed in the introductory portion of the present
document, the container 2 is preferentially a carboy containing at
least about ten liters of liquid, notably a water carboy having a
capacity of three, four or five gallons.
[0019] The neck 3 has a globular tubular shape, the central
longitudinal axis is referenced as X-X. By convenience, the
following of the description of the plug 1 is oriented with respect
to the axis X-X, by considering that the terms of
<<lower>> and <<bottom>> describe a portion
of the plug which is directed axially towards the main body of the
container 2 when the plug 1 obturates the neck 3 of this container
and while the latter lies on a horizontal plane, such as a table,
with its neck 3 directed upwards, as in FIGS. 1, 2 and 5.
Conversely, the terms of <<upper>> and
<<top>> correspond to an axial direction of opposite
sense. Also, the term of <<inner>> describes a portion
of the plug 1 which is directed transversely towards the axis X-X,
while the term of <<outer>> corresponds to a transverse
direction of opposite sense.
[0020] The neck 3 includes a globally tubular body 4, with a
circular base and centered on the axis X-X. The top axial end 5 of
the body 4 is free, while being open on the outside, while, at its
opposite axial end, the body 4 opens into the main body, not shown,
of the container 2. The free end 5 of the body 4 connects the inner
4A and outer 4B faces of this body with each other. The outer face
4B of the body 4 is provided with an upper heel 6 and with a lower
shouldered protrusion 7, which both protrude outwards and which, in
the exemplary embodiment considered in the figures, are spaced
apart axially from each other, while thereby delimiting between
them an annular groove 8 running over the whole outer periphery of
the body 4 of the neck 3.
[0021] As this is well visible in FIGS. 1 to 4, the plug 1 has a
globally tubular shape, the central longitudinal axis of which
coincides with the axis X-X of the neck 3 when the plug 1 is set
into place on the neck. The plug 1 is open at its lower end and
closed at its upper end by a cap 10 which, when the plug 1 is in a
closing configuration on the neck 3, like in FIG. 2, is laid out
across the inner aperture of the neck, so as to obturate the
latter. The outer peripheral portion 11 of the cap 10 is globally
planar. The inner peripheral portion 12 of the cap 10 as for it has
a staged tubular shape, centered on the axis X-X, which is
typically intended to cooperate with a supply head of a water
fountain and which will not be described further herein insofar
that this aspect of the plug 1 is not a limitation of the
invention.
[0022] At the outer periphery of the cap 10, a globally tubular
skirt 20 extends downwards, centered on the axis X-X and with a
circular base, having been made in the same material with the
peripheral portion 11 of the cap.
[0023] As this is well visible in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, the skirt 20
includes an upper terminal portion 21 which connects the remainder
of the skirt 20 to the cap 10. This skirt portion 21 has an inner
face 21A provided with a bulging line 22 which protrudes inwards
and which runs over the whole periphery of the skirt. This bulging
line 22 is designed so as to cooperate by diametrical interference
with the heel 6 of the neck 3 for purposes of attachment by jamming
of the skirt 20 coaxially around the neck when the plug 1 is in a
closing configuration on this neck, as shown in FIG. 2.
[0024] In the embodiment considered in the figures, the bulging
line 22 runs over the inner periphery of the skirt portion 21 while
being regularly interrupted, which amounts to stating that this
bulging tine 22 consists of a succession of bulging portions,
distributed along the periphery of the inner face 21A of the skirt
portion 21. In a way known per se, this layout i.a. aimed at
increasing the transverse flexibility of the skirt 20 at the axial
level of the bulging line 22. Of course, as an alternative not
shown, the bulging line may be provided so as to be continuous over
the whole inner periphery of the skirt portion 21.
[0025] Also as well visible in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, the skirt 20
further includes a lower terminal portion 23 which is connected,
along the direction of the axis X-X, to the skirt portion 21
through an intermediate portion 24 of the skirt 20. It will be
noted that, in the embodiment considered in the figures, the skirt
20 thus consists of the skirt portions 21, 23 and 24.
[0026] The lower terminal portion 23 has an inner face 23A which,
when the plug 1 is in a closing configuration on the neck 3,
substantially covers snugly the shouldered protrusion 7 of the
neck, as shown in FIG. 2: in other words, this inner face 23A of
the skirt portion 23 is designed so as to encircle the shouldered
protrusion 7 of the neck 3, i.e. more generally for encircling an
associated portion of the outer face 4B of the body 4 of this neck,
Snug cooperation between the skirt portion 23 and the shoulder
protrusion 7 of the neck 3 stabilizes and/or reinforces the
attachment of the skirt 20 around the neck when the plug 1 is in a
closing configuration on the neck, while allowing outer covering of
the neck.
[0027] In the relevant embodiment in the figures, the inner face
24A of the intermediate skirt portion 24 has portions bulging
inwards 25, distributed along the inner periphery of this skirt
portion 24, as this is well visible in FIG. 5. These bulging
portions 25 are located, along the direction of the axis X-X, in
the top region of the skirt portion 24 so as to gradually reduce
the inner transverse dimension of the skirt portion 24 when the
latter is covered from bottom to top. Thus, notably insofar that
the respective outer faces of the skirt portions 23 and 24 form
together a substantially cylindrical surface with a constant
circular base, the skirt portion 24 has, in its bulging portions
25, an increasing thickness when this skirt portion 24 is covered
from the skirt portion 23 to the skirt portion 21, which
correspondingly decreases the transverse flexibility of the skirt
portion 24.
[0028] Advantageously, along the periphery of the skirt 20, the
interruptions between two of the bulge portions 25 which are in
succession, occupy the same angular positions as the interruptions
of the bulging line 22, as this is well visible in FIG. 5: these
interruptions thus form together several vent channels 26 which are
distributed along the periphery of the skirt 20, each vent channel
26 extends axially over both the bottom portion of the inner face
21A of the skirt portion 21 and the top portion of the inner face
24A of the skirt portion 24. These vent channels 26 facilitate the
setting into place of the plug 1 on the neck 3 with view to
obturating the latter, in the sense that all air overpressure which
may be generated between the skirt portion 21 and the neck 3 is
neutralized by the presence of the vent channels 26.
[0029] The skirt 20 is moreover provided with a weakening line 27
designed, so as to be broken under the action of the user so as to
separate either one of the portions of the skirt 20 which were
initially connected to each other through this weakening line 27.
In practice, it is understood that the weakening line 27 is broken
by a user when the latter wishes to free in totality the plug 1
relatively to the neck 3 of the container 2, notably for purposes
of reusing this container. In the embodiment considered in the
figures, the weakening line 27 includes a portion 27.1 which is
located at a substantially constant axial level of the skirt 20 and
which runs over a portion of the periphery of the skirt along the
bulging line 21 on the one hand, and, a portion 27.2 which connects
the weakening line portion 27.1 to the lower free end of the skirt
20, in other words here, to the lower axial end 23B of the shirt
portion 23 on the other hand, as this is well visible in FIGS. 4
and 5. Thus, the weakening line portion 27.2 extends over a limited
peripheral portion of the skirt portion 23, a portion in which this
weakening line portion 27.2 connects the lower axial end 23B of
this skirt portion 23 to its upper axial end 23C, from which the
weakening line portion 27.2 extends and joins up with the weakening
line portion 27.1 while extending in the skirt portion 24.
Advantageously, the aforementioned peripheral portion of the skirt
portion 23 is provided with a tab 28 protruding downwards from the
lower end 23B of the skirt portion 23, in close proximity to the
weakening line portion 27.2 along the periphery of the skirt 20: in
a way known per se, this tab 28 is provided so as to be grasped by
the fingers of a user in order to be moved away from the neck 3 of
the container 2, which induces initiation of tearing at the free
end of the weakening line portion 27.2.
[0030] As this is well visible in FIGS. 2 to 5, the inner face 23A
of the skirt portion 23 is provided with ribs 29, which protrude
inwards and which are distributed along the inner periphery of this
skirt portion 23.
[0031] In the embodiment considered in the figures, the ribs 29 are
present on the whole inner periphery of the skirt portion 23, and
this while being advantageously distributed regularly along this
periphery, except in the peripheral portion of this skirt portion
23, in which extends the weakening line portion 27.2 as explained
above. This arrangement gives the possibility of avoiding any
perturbation of the tearing of the skirt portion 23 in its
aforementioned peripheral portion by breaking of the weakening line
27.
[0032] For reasons which will become apparent a little later on,
each of the ribs 29 connects with each other the lower 23B and
upper 230 axial ends of the skirt portion 23. Moreover, in the
embodiment considered in the figures, each of these ribs 29 extend
axially beyond the upper end 230 of the skirt portion 23, which
amounts to stating that these ribs 29 occupy the whole axial extent
of the skirt portion 23, as well as at least one lower portion of
the axial extent of the skirt portion 24. Extending the foregoing
considerations, at least some of the ribs 29 are axially integral
with the bulging portions 25 of the skirt portion 24, as this is
well visible in FIGS. 4 and 5: so that, the manufacturing, notably
by molding, of the ribs 29 is facilitated, while reinforcing their
mechanical strength along a direction peripheral to the skirt 20.
Furthermore, as an optional arrangement, applied in the embodiment
considered here, the ribs 29 located along the periphery of the
skirt 20, in the skirt portions of the vent channels 26 extend
axially upwards as far as in the top portion of the axial extent of
the skirt portion 24, where these ribs 29 are axially made in the
same material with inner overthicknesses, as this is well visible
in FIGS. 4 and 5.
[0033] In the embodiment considered here, the ribs 29 are
substantially rectilinear and are substantially parallel to the
axis X-X. One of the advantages of this layout is to facilitate
manufacturing of the plug 1, notably by molding the latter, in the
sense that the ribs 29 are easy to remove from the mold with the
remainder of the skirt 20. Moreover, this layout has a remarkable
benefit when it is combined with the fact that at least some of the
ribs 29 are axially made in the same material with the bulging
portions 25, as explained above, and this at least for the same
reasons of easy removal from the mold.
[0034] In order to well understand the technical benefits related
to the presence of the ribs 29, interest will lie hereafter in the
operation for placing the plug 1 on the neck 3 with view to
obturating the latter. To do this, initially, the plug 1 is brought
closer to the neck 3 until it overhangs the latter coaxially as in
FIG. 1. The plug 1 and the neck 3 are then brought axially close to
each other so as to engage the neck 3 coaxially into the inside of
the skirt 20 and to have the heel 6 and the bulging line 22
cooperate with each other. In order to jam the heel 6 between the
bulging line 22 and the cap 10, significant axial stress has to be
applied in the direction for bringing the cap and the neck closer
to each other: at this moment of the placement of the plug, the
aforementioned stress necessarily induces axial compression forces
of the body 4 of the neck 3, as well as of the whole remainder of
the container 2, so that, in particular when this container is a
carboy of the type mentioned above, which further is made in a
plastic material with moderate stiffness, notably made in
polyethylene terephthalate, the level of the liquid contained in
the container 2 rises relatively to this container because of the
axial compression of the latter. As explained in the introductory
portion of the present document, the rise in the level of the
liquid may then be such that liquid overflows from the neck 3, by
passing over the high axial end 5 of its body 4. Flowing along the
outer face 4B of the body 4 of the neck 3, this liquid reaches the
groove 8. Because of the adjustment between the skirt portion 23
and the shouldered protrusion 7 of the neck, it is understood that
this liquid may rapidly accumulate in the free space delimited
radially between the groove 8 and the skirt portion 24. However,
rather than being irremediably trapped in this free space, this
liquid may then flow downwards, radially between the skirt portion
23 and the shoulder protrusion 7, by passing through flow passages
30 respectively delimited, along the inner periphery of the skirt
20, between two of the ribs 29 which are in succession along this
periphery. These flow passages 30 have a function of draining the
liquid. Indeed, each of these flow passages opens at the top, into
the free space delimited between the skirt portion 24 and the
groove 8 and, at the bottom, onto the free end section of the skirt
20 and therefore directly on the outside of the plug 1. Further, as
this is well visible in FIG. 3, the inner face 23A of the skirt
portion 23 through these ribs 29 bears against the shouldered
protrusion 7 of the neck 3 so that the remainder of this inner face
23A is moved slightly radially apart from the shouldered protrusion
7, thereby leaving the flow passages 30 free.
[0035] In practice, in particular when the amount of liquid
overflowing from the container 2 is significant, it is not excluded
that the accumulation of this liquid in the groove 8 be such that
all the flow passages 30 are saturated, then preventing air outside
the plug 1 from reaching the groove 8, via at least one of the flow
passages 30, in order to compensate the negative pressure generated
by the discharge of the liquid in the passages 30. In this case,
some liquid is retained in the groove 8 by a suction cup effect,
upstream from the flow passages 30. The draining of this thereby
retained liquid may then be achieved by itself, by tilting the
container 2 with respect to the vertical, or by laying it
horizontally. Moreover, the container 2 is typically stored and/or
transported horizontally.
[0036] As a remarkable additional advantage, it will be noted that
the ribs 29 form, on the inner face 23A of the skirt portion 23,
raised reliefs for manual grasping which a user may easily engage
with his/her fingers in order to grasp and notably pull on the
skirt 20 when this user seeks to free the plug 1 from the neck 3.
This is notably the case when the weakening line 27 is at least
partly broken, in the sense that the user generally grasps the
portion of the skirt 20 which is located axially under the broken
weakening line 27 and which therefore interiorly bears the
protruding ribs 29.
[0037] Various arrangements and alternatives to the plug 1
described up to now may moreover be contemplated: [0038] Instead of
the skirt portion 23, interiorly provided with ribs 29, forming the
lower terminal portion of the skirt 20, this skirt may, in an
alternative not shown, include an additional axial portion,
extending downwards in the extension of the skirt portion 23; in
this case, optionaliy, the ribs 29 may be extended from the portion
of the skirt 23 as far as at least the top of this additional skirt
portion, which amounts to stating that the ribs 29 then extend
axially downwards beyond the skirt portion 23; and/or [0039] The
container 2 is not necessarily a carboy of the type mentioned
above, in the sense that more globally, the invention applies to
snapped-on plugs, similar to the plug 1, i.e. plugs for which the
skirt includes atop axial portion, capable of interfering by
jamming with an outer protruding heel of the neck of a container,
and a lower axial portion which substantially encircles snugly an
associated portion of the outer face of the neck, such as the
shouldered area 7 of the neck 3.
* * * * *